Tuesday, May 2, 2017

Last weekend I almost missed out on a great experience: my first SCBWI-IL Spring Thaw writing workshop.

My alarm went off at 6.15
am.

I hit snooze.

I did not want to get up
this early on such a rainy, miserable Saturday.

My bed was warm.

My hubby was breathing quietly.

And I didn’t have a
manuscript ready. Or a pitch. This was, after all, a “pitch perfect” workshop.

“Just go back to sleep,
you’re such a loser,” my saboteur suggested.

As I formulated that
word – saboteur – something else
awoke within me.

I’d been working with a
life coach who was also a friend for a few years. I had been wondering lately whether
I was really getting enough out of the sessions. My conscious mind (saboteur?) did not think it was helping
me. It was costing me money I could spend on workshops. It was taking time I
could be writing… On Saturday, April 29, 2017 I got my answer. YES, it was
helping me. Otherwise, I would have buried my head under the sheets and gone
back to a fitful, guilt-ridden sleep.

With a jolt of
realization, I got up.

I decided it was OK that
I might be a few minutes late- didn’t happen.

I decided I’d feel
better for having driven over an hour to St. Charles on this dismal Saturday.

I was thankful for the
picture book workshop conducted by Tom Lichtenheld. He is a wonderful speaker
and a genuine person.

I stressed a bit about
the pitch session, but found out that I wasn’t the only one who’d messed up. It
was also extremely beneficial to participate in the process and not be
stressing about my own pitch. I just took it all in and tried to learn from
others.

The fact that I didn’t
have a pitch gave the group additional time to just talk and have conversations
about writing, editing and the creative process in general.

As our Agent, Kelly
Barrales-Saylor confirmed, we had some really good conversations.

Sometimes, that’s all
you need. See you there next year... better prepared, or not.